EFL 1. 3 Pro tips for effective LinkedIn writing for non-native English speakers

If your first language is not English–but you are writing for a global audience in English–how do you do it effectively? Use the KISS rule (Keep it super simple) and use plain English, right? Yes, but there’s more.

Professional writing for a global audience needs:

simple and uncomplicated English
a more informal tone
clear and concise content that contributes.

Blog summary video.

Let me explain why these are the 3 keys for effective LinkedIn writing (especially for non-native speakers of English). The first two are about language use, but the last one is about the content of the message. I will clarify these tips with some “before and after” writing samples.

Writing for the 2020s

Unfortunately, these standards are usually not emphasized in education that teaches English as a foreign language, which usually forces the memorization and testing of many complicated words and grammars. This leads to unnecessarily formal, uncommon and complicated language use with many mistakes.

Let’s compare this type of English with the types of writing that are those most common for successful and well-networked ELF professionals: social media and email writing. For social media, I do not mean Instagram, which is primarily visual, or Snapchat, Line or Facebook Messenger, which are text messaging apps. I mean professional social media platforms like

Facebook,
Twitter and especially
LinkedIn.

These platforms are hugely popular and are sources of not only networking but also learning about industry news and updates. However, in order to take advantage of these networking and learning opportunities, writing skills are very important. It is essential to understand and be able to write

text messages to connections,
comments on others’ posts,
replies to comments
posts sharing already published articles
short or long articles
articles on the LinkedIn publishing platform.

Although many grammar writing textbooks for English language learners contain useful language forms, they also contain many useless language and sentence patterns that have little relevance for the real world.

Sadly, this not only creates an added burden on learners but also causes many learners to wrongly believe that many words, phrases, and sentence patterns are equal in meaning, such as “but”, “although”, “on the contrary”, “nevertheless” and “however”. But “nevertheless” is much less common than “however” which is also less common than “but”; and not all of these words are even equal in meaning: “on the contrary” does not mean the same as “however”. It is always a good strategy to use more common words than less common words in your writing because the reader will understand it more quickly. This is not usually taught in language classes because teachers want their students to display what they have memorized and are often impressed by the use of less common words and grammar in writing tests.

Today, we live in the age of information and limited attention spans, so effective communication relies more on simple and clear language use. A study of the 3000 most popular Linked articles found that the language level with the most views was calculated as being readable by an 11-year-old [1]. This is not an accident and certainly not an indication of the writer’s poor language ability. Actually, the opposite is true: it takes good writing skill to communicate simply and clearly. In these 3000 widely-read, clear, simple and impactful articles, it is very unlikely you will find such uncommon words as “nevertheless”.

This is good news if you are a non-native writer of English: you don’t need to use a lot of fancy and uncommon language. This focus on simple, useful and effective language is at the heart of using English as a Lingua Franca for communication.

Pro tip 1. Simple and uncomplicated English

Many non-native speakers may not have the control over English usage that native speakers have (though many do!), but it is interesting to note that non-natives are often better able to communicate with other non-natives because they have a better sense of what core aspects of English other non-natives understand. Native speakers, on the other hand, often assume too much and don’t realize how much of their language is actually made of idioms and jargon that non-native speakers never learn in their English textbooks and may have never heard before.

Of course, there is a time and place for jargon and technical words. But LinkedIn is a global platform, and if a message is targeting readers whose first language is not English, then jargon and slang should be removed. Here we should follow George Orwell’s [2] famous essay called “Six Rules for Writing”, in which he warns, “Never use a long word when a short one will do”.

Although we should be careful about rules that use “always” or “never”, Orwell’s rule is good to remember and practice. In the following exaggerated example of a LinkedIn status update post (inspired by a funny example in [3]) by a native speaker, how much of the idiomatic jargon can be explained with shorter and simpler words? (Hint: count the underlined words.)

Example 1-Before. Example of unintelligible idioms and jargon

After a day of heavy lifting that involved outside-the-box ideating and workshopping, we managed to finally drill down on the client’s big ask. We came to the conclusion that our client needs to leverage personal and authentic content marketing to really create a wow factor. We are confident and psyched to propose that they utilize and double down on this strategy when we touch base with them on Friday. (69 words)

The answer is 13. Some technical terms we cannot escape, like “brainstorming”, but several of the underlined words and phrases make the message unintelligible to global audiences that have many non-native speakers. These idioms can either be replaced with simpler words or removed altogether.

Example 1-After. Simpler and more concise English .

After a day of brainstorming, we came up with a strategy for our client: they should use personal content marketing to create a strong impression. We look forward to presenting the strategy to them on Friday. (35 words)

The revised and more intelligible version is also much more concise–only 35 words, which is half the number of the original. This cuts the reader’s reading time in half, which will increase the odds that the reader will fish reading your message.

Pro tip 2. Informal tone

The tone, or level of formality, is also a key consideration. As mentioned above, many of the most widely read articles have a level of readability suitable for an 11 year-old [1]. Just because LinkedIn readers may be highly educated, this does not mean they want to read something formal and academic.

The style of writing in most posts and comments and replies to comments is simpler and more conversational. Imagine you are really talking to the reader. This is good news for non-native English speakers, but it is also a struggle for many English language learners who have learned more formal versions of textbook English. The below example is based on a real post by a high level learner of English and shows an overly formal use of language.

Example 2-Before. Overly formal language use

The development of AI has been a benchmark to determine a country’s technological success. The usage of AI in the Navy and for national defense is being actively exploited to show the muscle of a nation’s strength. Although AI will struggle to match human decision-making skills, it is needless to say the problem will be resolved considering the high speed of AI learning. Once matured, it will save sailors from exhausting and repetitive tasks and ensure a safer work environment for those defending their country. (85 words; 515 characters)

In the original, “before” version, the learner writing is overly formal and unnecessarily long. Less common words like “usage”, “exploited”, “show the muscle of a nation’s strength”, “needless to say”, “resolved” can be replaced with simpler vocabulary and grammar, and more direct sentences.

Example 2-After. Less formal and more readable.

AI has become a benchmark to determine a country’s technological success. The use of AI in the Navy and for national defense is being used as a way to show a nation’s strength. Although AI will struggle to match human decision-making skills, I am confident it will one day because of its speed and ability to learn. When this day comes, it will save sailors from exhausting and repetitive tasks and ensure a safer work environment for those defending their country. (81 words; 464 characters)

Although the number of words is almost the same, the number of characters in the revised “after” version is 10% fewer, which means that many shorter words were used. Again, this also makes the writing much more readable and saves the reader’s time. Busy LinkedIn readers will appreciate this.

Pro tip 3. Clear and concise message that contributes

This final point refers more to creating and organizing ideas and less about language use. Writing a post on LinkedIn can be a nervous first-time experience for anyone on LinkedIn. The fear of being judged and criticized or ignored is enough to prevent most people–especially non-native speakers–from posting. In reality, this is a kind of performance: you are not writing an email or message to one person, you are writing to everyone. Here, intelligibility, simpler language and conversational style) need to be matched by valuable content and clarity of message.

How do we do this?

First, you need an idea that is worth sharing. Creating a message involves breaking down a complicated idea and packaging it with words and phrases to communicate it clearly. This is important because LinkedIn is the most professional and well-respected social media platform, which means most of its users not only use it for networking and job finding, but also for learning.

You need to adopt a style of writing and communication necessary in the digital age where people’s attention is severely limited. We now live and communicate in an age of the attention economy, so effective written communication therefore needs to be concise. And it also needs to be impactful, which means to quickly catch the attention of the reader.

In the following example of a post summarizing an article, we can see that the original article summary post was unfocused and repetitive. The beginning is also unclear and does not grab our attention.

Example 3-Before. Unclear and unfocused message.

With an AI analysis, this system will present a brief report of your skin type and the product you might be looking for.
The AI powered search engine enables consumers to save their time searching for the product they want and also to enhance their shopping experience.
The AI powered filter offers consumers the chance to try-on makeup online, which makes shopping much safer during the pandemic.
AI will influence the whole beauty industry, and it’s starting now.
Due to the pandemic, people started to work from home, and so the opportunity of people going out to cosmetics shops has decreased. However, people still need to use cosmetic products and skincare products to repair their skin condition. Here is where the AI system can help. By this technology, consumers can try-on cosmetic products at home, and the system will also recommend cosmetic products according to your skin type. This will largely minimize the dangers of getting COVID-19, and also optimize the whole shopping process. (167 words; 999 characters) [attached article title: AI in the Beauty Industry: How Computer Vision Future Trends Empower the Beauty and Cosmetic Industry]

Few readers will read past the first line. Making shorter and more focused sentences will help keep the reader’s attention, as in the following example.

Example 3-After. More focused and more concise message.

AI and computer vision are changing the beauty industry.
AI systems can analyze your skin, recommend products for your skin type, and let you try on makeup virtually.

This can help consumers save time,
offer more selection to improve the shopping experience, and
during the pandemic make shopping safer.

This is another example of how the pandemic is advancing technologies and creating more opportunities for both businesses and shoppers. Will it change the cosmetics shopping habits forever? (77 words; 491 characters) [attached Article title: AI in the Beauty Industry: How Computer Vision Future Trends Empower the Beauty and Cosmetic Industry]

After more thinking and revising, the above post was made to be more focused and direct by the following:

reducing to less than half the length (from 167 words to 78 words),
Using shorter sentences
Using shorter paragraphs and bullets to make it more readable
Offer a final comment to make clear why this is an interesting trend.

Just do it …

The KISS rule is a vital first step to effective international communication. If you can control your language to be simple and uncomplicated that uses a more informal and conversational tone, you are on your way to effective communication on LinkedIn for your global audience. The last thing you need to do is make sure your interesting idea is concise and focussed. LinkedIn readers want to learn, so if you think you have some interesting knowledge or insights about your profession or industry, then there are surely others who’d want to read about it.

Just do it!

… but do it with simple, informal and focused English.

This post is also published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-pro-tips-effective-elf-linkedin-writing-nigel-p-daly-phd/?published=t